New Orleans Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Neighborhoods Served:
• Village De L'Est

Planning District:
10

Ward:
9

Zip Codes:
70129

Boundaries:
Greater New Orleans Area

Council Representative:
Jon Johnson

State Representative:
Austin J. Badon, Jr.

Police Precinct:
7

President / Director:
Minh Thanh Nguyen

Mission:

The Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO) is a youth-led, youth organizing and development, community-based organization in New Orleans dedicated to the empowerment of Vietnamese American and underrepresented youth through services, cultural enrichment, and positive social change.

Young community leaders founded VAYLA-NO in 2006 as a means to reach out to the larger community to create a voice and organize to address the needs in the local community. Committed to youth development, community empowerment, higher education, and cultural awareness, VAYLA-NO is composed of young leaders, high school and college students that want to engage and empower others educationally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Programs
The majority of youth who lead environmental justice, educational equity and health equity efforts attend some of the lowest performing high schools in the country. In order to support these youth in their personal educational and career ambitions, VAYLA supplements its youth-led organizing campaigns with a holistic approach through supportive services. Members of the organization are encouraged to think about their personal development and the development of the community as interrelated; by striving for personal academic achievement, youth develop skills and knowledge that will enrich their own lives and strengthen the community’s ability to advocate for itself.

Education Program
The purpose of the Education Program is to advance college-going rates among all high school students, to ensure that current high school students achieve academic success and pass the Louisiana state standardized test, and to be a one-stop information and service center for students and parents. The staff at the center provide information on Financial Aid, Scholarships opportunities, the College Application Process, College Campus Tours and Academic and Test Preparation. Counseling volunteers and tutors from academic institutions provide on-site support for the students in the program. To ensure the advancement and success of the program, after-school tutoring, and the General Exit Examination for the 21st Century (GEE 21) and Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for the 21st Century (LEAP 21) test preparation is also offered.

Sports Program
After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the youth populations from Village de l’Est neighborhood needed something positive to look forward to. The Sports Program is run year-round and helps keep youth active. The Sports Program includes basketball, boys and girls’ flag football, and volleyball. The program is held at Village de l’Est Playground, which currently does not have any New Orleans Recreation Department programs running. The program’s major objectives are to encourage artistic talent, increase physical and mental health, foster self-awareness, and encourage selfless acts of kindness for the benefit of the community.

Health Program
The Health Program is a pathway to the public health profession, and an opportunity for youth to become advocates for their community. Due to the lack of linguistic and culturally competent health services provided to the Southeast Asians and to the youth of the community, VAYLA began to partner up with various local and national organizations to create the community about health disparities and gaps in health care provision. From participating in course offered by professional community health workers, to participating in VAYLA’s Family Circle “support circles”, experiencing and building these skill sets will benefit not only the individual, but also the community.

Safe Space
Safe Space was created as an informal support group that meets once a week. It opens with an icebreaker that flows into the topic of discussion. Youth from the ages of 13 to 24 come to VAYLA to enjoy each other’s company and support. It offers youth a confidential space to talk to their peers about troubles or problems, and support one another by connecting on a personal level. It continues to have an open-door policy so new VAYLA members can transition easier into the daily life here at the Youth Center.

Young Women Leadership Program
In March 2009, two youth members of VAYLA-NO, Huong Nguyen and Jennifer Tran founded the Young Women’s Leadership Program (YWLP). After years of organizing in male-dominated spaces, the two young women realized the critical need for a program that focused on the empowerment and leadership development of young Southeast Asian women in their community. With the support of adult allies Christina Wadhwani and Mai Dang, Huong and Jennifer organized female youth members of VAYLA-NO to create a space where young women can discuss and take action on the critical issues that directly affect them, such as domestic violence and wage disparities by gender. The program aims to build up the voices and leadership capacity of young Vietnamese community. Monthly activities are held to bring the young women together, from which the agenda is decided by the membership.

Hip-Hop Dances
Hip Hop is a vibrant and multi-faceted art form encompassing the many disciplines of contemporary cultural and artistic expression. As the fastest growing of all the art forms, dancing can have a powerful effect on people’s lives, including physical, emotional, mental, and social benefits. The vibrant range of styles drawn from different cultures gives dance an impressive reach in our multicultural society. Hip-Hop dancing has a long history of successfully working with hard-to-reach groups and building a sense of social cohesion within communities. Dance is a wonderful artistic outlet that not only utilizes creativity and talent but also teaches discipline, builds character, and develops self-esteem.

Stories of Versai
In June of 2009, young people in the community wanted to use the power of story telling to preserve their culture and heal divisions within the Southeast Asian community. They also wanted to work towards incorporating voices from other communities in order to facilitate solidarity within the neighborhood. They used interview footage from oral histories of community members to create documentaries representing common aspects of their community’s history and experiences. They hope that this archive will continue to expand, becoming a home for our neighborhood’s history—a place where we can learn from one another and come together.

Current Priorities:

• Comunity Health
• Cultural and Community Facilities
• Parks and Natural Resources
• Public Education
• Quality of Life, Preservation, and Zoning
• Youth Engagement

Partners:

Fyre Youth Squad, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, LatiNola Youth Leadership Council, Puentes, Neighborhoods Partnership Network, MQVN Community Development Corporation, Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training, Operation Reach, Inc., New Orleans Parent Organizing Network, EngageNOLA, and the Louisiana Language Access Coalition.

For More Info:

Please visit: http://www.vayla-no.org